Sounds like it would be gross, but it surprisingly isn't.

[xiphias]

So, I'm making up an additional pot of chicken soup. I boiled the chicken longer than I usually do, and left the bones in longer.

I refrigerated it overnight in order to skim off the fat (once the fat is refrigerated, it comes off VERY easily).

And the bones appear to have formed gelatin. It's dissolving well into the re-heated soup, and is just adding body. It's actually really good. This may be the best chicken soup I've ever made.

Comments

[linenoise.livejournal.com]

I did that with a pot full of beef stock recently. Although, in my case, it's at least as much because I reduced it a whole bunch after refigerating it overnight to skim the fat.

If you take good, homemade stock, and you reduce it, it can be placed in an ice cube tray and frozen, and thereafter used instead of buillion cubes. More flavor, less salt.

But the reduced stock, if placed back in the fridge instead of directly in the freezer, becomes the consistency of jello, and is quite disconcerting at first.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, that must be it, then. One of the ingredients in this chicken soup is the reduced chicken stock of the LAST batch of chicken soup.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

What Brian describes is exactly how I make homemade stock, and it's fabulous stuff. Sounds like you are also well on your way to greatness.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Meat stock with bones in it to add gelatin is very good if you're just eating the broth itself, or using it to cook meat or vegetables. But if you want to cook grain in it, you need to dilute it. Or you can cook the rice or barley separately and add it to the soup. Grain doesn't soften properly in a high-gelatin liquid.

You can add vinegar or lemon juice to the soup during the initial cooking, to extract more calcium from the bones. Most people can't taste 1 teaspoon lemon per quart of chicken soup with onion and carrot. I have a sour tooth, so I sometimes use a tablespoon/quart (or even more, if I am making something in the direction of hot and sour soup, with ginger and cayenne.)

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

I did something like that once with a chicken soup to which I'd added pastina. Between the well-boiled bones and the pasta cooked to dissolution, I ended up with a delicious chicken stew, rather than chicken soup. And I haven't been able to duplicate it since. :'-(

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I remember getting one batch of chicken stock to hit the gelatin state and thought I had messed it up. Michael looked over my shoulder to see why I sounded sad and got So Excited when he saw the gelatin wiggle. "Oh that's going to taste so good!" and immediately started plotting to cook something with it. Enjoy yours!